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| Mrs. Hempel: Carver Elementary 1st-2nd Grade 2018-2019 |
Wow!! Today was my first day back with students and it was *amazing!* I teach first and second grade in a multi-age classroom. However, this year we had some assessment days built into the start of the year for our Kindergarten and first grade students in the district. This meant that I was able to spend today with my 19 adorable second graders and really take some time to foster a community of team-building and leadership! I can already tell, it's going to be an amazing year!
Today went by so quickly!
I know I'll forget some of the things we did today, but I will try to share with you all of the amazing activities we did! I most definitely can't take credit for thinking up any of these fun activities, so I will do my best to give credit where credit is due! And in the event I am unsure of where the activity originated from, just know I'm sharing something fun - but I did not create it!!
Figure Me Out
I honestly cannot recall where I found this adorable idea! I was doing what I often do, scrolling through Instagram and taking screenshots of the hundreds of cute ideas I find and think, "I'll do this with my class!" Sometimes I follow through on those thoughts, and other times the images just pile up in my photo gallery on my phone! I had fun creating the poster and the students had fun figuring out the answers, which led to more "getting to know you" conversations in our classroom!
When we were finished learning about me, students were each given a post-it note and asked to create one question about themselves that could be answered with a mathematical equation! I was so impressed by the creativity of my students! We gathered in a circle, introduced ourselves and shared our questions and equations. Students learned the names of the classmates and some fun facts, all while practicing a little math!
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| Please pardon my example - I was attempting to show the students how to complete their glyph without putting *too* much detail into my own!! |
This fantastic little {FREE} activity came from A Classroom for All Seasons on Teachers Pay Teachers. While I did get started on this activity with my second grade students, I found it was a bit difficult for many of them. I had hoped it would be a great activity for following directions, but it was a little too confusing for some students. If I were to do this with second grade students again, I would do the activity whole group and go step-by-step through each question and have them follow the directions. I do think this activity would be fun and more successful in an intermediate grade!
This fantastic little {FREE} activity came from Sailing Into Second on Teachers Pay Teachers. This was an excellent activity for team-building, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Students begin with a gummy lifesaver, lid, gummy worm, and 4 paperclips for their group. The teacher reads aloud a story about Sam, the worm, who went out sailing and his boat capsized in the strong winds. His life jacket is under the boat and thankfully he was able to get on top of the boat. Now students must work together to retrieve his life jacket and put it on him, *without* touching anything with their hands!!
Surprisingly my students figured out how to get the "life saver" out from under the "boat" rather quickly. It took a little longer for them to work together to get the "life saver" on Sam!
Overall, the students had a great time, worked together, and had some laughs along the way! I will definitely keep this activity in my box of tricks for upcoming years!
Check back later this week for some more fun, back-to-school activities that we have done in our classroom!
In the meantime, I'll leave you with this...
today marked my son's first day of 5th grade, my daughter's first day of 6th grade, and my first day of my 6th year in Eastern Carver County Schools!
I wrapped up the day with a yummy dinner at Unhinged Pizza with my two favorite kiddos!
We were just missing my wife...
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| Mason - 5th Grade Kylie - 6th Grade 2018-2019 |
What fun activities did you do for your first day/week back-to-school?
